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Published: November 1st 2010
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I was waiting for this trip for a long time. It was our 1st anniversary trip(kind of, its 1 month more to complete a year). And upon hearing the name 'Kerala' itself paints an exotic and vibrant picture in mind. This time we planned to stay in Tiruvananthapuram and visit Kovalam, Ponmudi Hill station and Varkala beach. We planned this trip on our own without any help of travel agents. We booked train tickets from Bangalore to Trivandrum and booked rooms in
Hotel Highland Park. We booked our rooms over phone 4-5 days advance of our journey. The day arrived and that day I had office but I was not interested to work. I had lunch and called hubby to pick me up as we had to leave early to catch our train. The journey was smooth and next day morning we reached Trivandrum and went to our hotel. The weather was cloudy and pleasant. Before we started we had checked the weather forecast which showed it will rain for next 3 days so we were kind of feeling gloomy inside and praying it shouldn't rain.
The hotel was very nice and it had a Veg restaurant inside. The rooms we got
was spacious and very neat and tidy. We freshened up and thought will see some local places today. But when we came out of our rooms we saw it was pouring outside and we felt very bad that time. But luckily after 5 mins it stopped and we first went to the Zoo. I didn't had much hope to what will be there and after reaching there I was right. It again started drizzling and we went on strolling carrying our umbrellas. We saw different species of birds, snakes, rhino, elephant, deers, black buck, crocodile and leopard. But they hadn't maintained the zoo properly and it was very shabby and old. Then we came back and had lunch at Ariya Niwas which served typical Kerala style Veg thali meal. It was very tasty and some items had the coconut flavor in them. Then we went to Puthen Maliga Palace and Museum, it was very old Palace of Kerala Verma kings which they now have converted to a museum. Inside it were very old throne, weapons, paintings and items of the royality. I was fascinated by the architecture and the wood work(which was everywhere). Then in evening we visited Padmanabhaswamy temple.
The Darshan was an experience in itself. When we tried to enter the priests guarding the temple told us to wear dhotis(which are traditional Indian wear,which is worn like a wrap around skirt). The clock room at the entrance provided the dhotis and both me and hubby had to wrap it. Then we went inside and another man handed us 2 puja plates with flowers and fruits. We thought may be its tradition there and they give it to everyone but when we started to walk away he asked money. Then few steps ahead another man gave puja oil to drop in the temple lamps. There he didn't ask for money and we thought atleast something is free. But we were soon proven wrong as near the lamp where we offered our oil was a man and he asked money for it. By that time we had a feeling of people cheating us. Then we decided not to take anything from anyone and just have a darshan of the God. It was an event in itself and bit confusing as we were not sure which was entrance of the main temple. Anyways in the end we finally had a nice
darshan of Vishnu God and returned.
Next day we did some shopping in SMS Institute (YMCA Road) which had all traditional Kerala souvenirs at very reasonable price. Then in the evening we started for Kovalam (15 Kms from Trivandrum) by auto. And when we reached there the view stopped my breath, it was so lovely. Thankfully the weather was ideal and we had a great time there. There are 3 main beaches there, Hawa beach, Lighthouse beach and Samudra beach. Samudra beach is kind of private beach and all luxury hotels and resorts are that side. Normal public enjoyed the other two beaches. There was one point between the 2 beach where rocks were there and the view from that point was awesome. Then we strolled towards the lighthouse beach. I loved it the most as the beach and sands was pretty striking. The view was totally amazing and I can say it is the best beach I have visited till date. The autostand is not that big there and at night time they may charge extra, so it is good if you have own mode of transport or take and auto and come back in the same (
fix the rate before for the waiting time too). There were some hotels in the beach side and many resturants serving local fish. You can choose the sea food you want to have(every resturant display the menu and sea food in the front) and they will cook it for you. We came with a very happy feeling that day.
Next day was our last day of the trip. We had booked a cab for the whole day as we wanted to visit Ponmudi and Varkala which are at a distance of 60 km (each) from Trivandrum. First we started for Ponmudi. On the way we stopped at a waterfall which was eco-tourism spot. One guide accompanied us for the trekking to go near the fall. The path was very difficult to walk where we had only rocks and tree roots to step on. And at points big ants and gigantic centepedes was visible. The big rocks and creepers gave the place a primitive look. I felt as if I have stepped into the movie Jurassic park. It was very scary for me and the walk upto the fall was 1 km. So I kept following the guide to reach
our place asap. Finally after 30mins we came across this open space and the beautiful water gushing down from the fall. I liked the isolation of the place and the sound of nature. It was not like other tourist places with huge no. of people around. It was the only the nature and us. Never in my life I had imagined we will get a waterfall to ourselves. It was an ultimate experience in itself. Then the journey back didn't appeared that difficult as I had imagined. And finally we got near our car and started for Ponmudi. When we started climbing the hill it got cooler and more pleasant. And when we reached there another treat was waiting for us. The Govt has so well organised the places with no interference from outside people putting up shops and other disturbing elements around. When we reached the view of valley and the hill was spell bounding. And I can aptly say it was pin drop silence where I could hear my breathing sound when I climbed up the path to go the top view point was an experience in itself. And the view from top was mesmerizing. We wished we
could sit there for hours feeling the cool breeze and gazing at the greenery around. After some moments of silence we had to leave for Varkala which was 85km from there. We reached the Varkala Papanashanam beach and sat there for some time. I can't say it was as nice as yesterday but ok. Then we started for the cliff where we could see some shops and shacks. When we reached the top the view was very beautiful. And I thanks God as it didn't rain and the weather was ideal. The colour of sky and the beach kept changing by passing time. We stayed till sunset, watching it while having coffee at Kerala coffee house. There were many shacks there suitable for the foreign tourists selling all sorts of clothing, souvenirs. And many hotels and resorts were available on the cliff to stay. The main 'thing' to do what I felt there was Ayurvedic treatments and Yoga. But with all the hotels and resorts screaming 'ayurveda and yoga' I am not sure which are authentic ones. Anyways we had a lovely time there by watching the sea from the top.
Next day morning we had breakfast at Indian
Coffee House just in front of Trivandrum station as we had seen it in a Travel and food show. The food was ok not great. Then we came back and packed all our stuff as we had to leave in afternoon. I must say we had an amazing 1st Kerala trip and hope many more will follow... :-) it is indeed God's own country.
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